Could the Battleship Make a Comeback?

At a time when the U.S. Navy hopes to wring fifty years of life out of aircraft carriers and forty out of cruisers and destroyers, refitted battleships could seemingly serve for decades to come. And it is true: stout battleship hulls could doubtless withstand the rigors of sea service.

Could the USS Missouri be reactivated?

They're museums. New Jersey and Missouri were struck from the navy list during the 1990s. Engineers preserved Iowa and Wisconsin in “reactivation” status for quite some time, meaning they hypothetically could return to duty. But they too were struck from the rolls, in 2006.

Why don't we use battleships anymore?

“The battleship era ended not because the ships lacked utility,” Farley writes, “but rather because they could no longer fulfill their roles in a cost-effective manner.” They were too big, too pricey to build and maintain, and their crews of thousands of sailors were just too large.